112 



FAMILIAR GASIlEy FLOTTEBS 



cost of which should be Ijut trifling, and the joy thereof 

 beyond all price. The spring flowers will banish our careSj 

 and we shall in beholding them feel freshened, and in 

 ha]i])y sympathy with the spirit iu which Clare wrote his 

 tender sonnet on the opening spring. 



'^ (Spring comes anew, and brings each little pledge 

 That still, as wont, my childish heart deceives; 

 I stoop again for violets in the hedge. 

 Among the ivy and old withered leaves ; 

 And often mark, amid the clamps of sedge, 

 The pooty shells I gathered when a hoj' : 

 But cares have claimed me many an evil day, 

 And chiUed the relish which I had for joy. 

 Yet when crab-hlossoms hlush among the maj', 

 As erst in years gone hj', I scramble now 

 Up 'mid the bramble for my old esteems, 

 Filling my hands with many a blooming bougli ; 

 Till the heart-stirring past as present seems, 

 Save the bright sunshine of those fairy dreams." 



